


Everything I've Learned and More

by silveryink



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Fire Lord Zuko, Gen, Oblivious Zuko (Avatar), Post-Canon, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, but not in the romance kind of way, he's also a really smart fire lord mostly, he's just like that, kind of crack but also not really ig, references to violence in prison and mistreatment of prisoners, they do discuss the boiling rock so uh, they're all kids okay, zuko is impulsive and reckless and it shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25958512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveryink/pseuds/silveryink
Summary: Toph loves sitting in on Zuko’s diplomatic meetings. They’re usually at least a little interesting, and he’s absent-minded just enough to let slip a detail that sends the Earth Kingdom ambassadors reeling with alarm and confusion. Whenever there's some little detail to be recalled from the last year, Zuko has it covered.
Relationships: Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Toph Beifong & Zuko, Zuko & The Fire Nation (Avatar)
Comments: 60
Kudos: 1713
Collections: avatar tingz





	Everything I've Learned and More

**Author's Note:**

> (Insert small celebration here for my 50th fic! Whoo!!!)
> 
> I already included the warning in the tags, but in case anyone missed it: there's a section where Zuko talks about the Boiling Rock and the mistreatment of prisoners there, so if that's a triggering subject, you can skip the part from _'I’ve seen the way the prisoners are treated there'_ to _'Surya swallows. “Oh.”'_
> 
> Inspired by [this Tumblr post](https://silveryinkystar.tumblr.com/post/626526199799218176/thatlostsock-life-is-fandoms-thatlostsock). This is where the 'not-quite-crack' tag comes in.
> 
> Title from Moana, which is long due for a re-watch.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

The meeting starts out fine, as most do. Zuko feels pretty confident about the way it proceeds, and knows that it has to do with the way the Southern delegation is smoothing over any hiccups that he’s not sure how to deal with. Well, that, and the fact that Uncle decided to postpone his return to Ba Sing Se after Zuko all but broke down in his arms a few nights ago. He doesn’t want to keep his uncle from the beloved tea shop he deserves to own, but the man was adamant in his choice to stay behind, saying that he needed some help and it might have been a little stupid to let a teenager with next to no command experience rule an entire nation without prior preparation for it.

Well. He’d said it in kinder words, and Zuko doesn’t mean to be self-deprecating in any way, but it’s the truth. He has no experience, despite all his lessons and essentially mastering the theory required to rule. But then, all of that had to do with waging war, and Zuko wants to steer right in the opposite direction of that nonsense. It’s hard, but rewarding in its own way (if a little thankless in person).

“We’d need some financial assistance to strengthen our border defences,” Bato of the Southern Water Tribe says. Zuko isn’t sure what the man’s title is, but his importance is clear enough to anyone in shouting range (which, for him, is a _lot_ if he sets his mind to it). “I’m afraid they rather dwindled, even in the years preceding our involvement in the war.”

Zuko nods slowly. “I think I remember,” he says. “There was only a watchtower when I reached your village.”

There’s a slight pause, because while they South had been used to Fire Nation raids, they probably hadn’t expected a prince to invade the place.

Oops.

Fortunately, Chief Hakoda knows the story well and wrangled him into visiting (and subsequently apologizing to) the village once things calmed slightly. Zuko was planning on doing that anyway, he’s got _manners_. He’s already drafting a written apology to be sent through Katara when she leaves for her home next week, as a placeholder for when he can do it in person. He hopes it’s enough.

“Sokka told me about that,” he says. “While we don’t expect such grandiose constructions as the Northern Water Tribe, we’d rather not be taken by surprise by invading pirates.”

Zuko shudders. He _hates_ the pirates and what they did to his ship. It wasn’t much, but it had been his home for three years (as much as he’d hated it). He lost his notes on past Avatars’ lives and the first pair of dao swords he’d forged for himself. He seconds the notion that the people must be protected from those… pirates.

“The Northern Water Tribe also took extensive damage from the invasion last year,” Chief Arnook says. Zuko vaguely remembers that he lost his daughter in that invasion, in the words _turned into the moon_ , and he still doesn’t know how much of that had actually happened.

Then again, Zhao had been eaten by a giant glowing fish spirit, so he can accept that weirder things have happened to him, or at least around him.

“And we will pay for those damages,” he assures the man. “Perhaps you could look into any security flaws in the meanwhile, such as the turtle-seal tunnels under the walls. A dedicated swimmer could use them to get inside.”

Beside him, Uncle stills and sets down his teacup. A second silence falls over the room and Zuko looks around, bewildered. He’s not entirely sure what he did to make them all go this quiet so fast – even when he and the chiefs had been speaking, a light murmur had been audible throughout as advisors ran over the details of the agreements their leaders made.

After a long and _extremely_ uncomfortable pause, Uncle comes to his rescue. “I suppose we should move on to the next topic on our agenda,” he interjects in a blatant attempt of changing the subject, and the rest of the group seems to agree. And yet, this is on the back of his mind until he’s lying down in his chambers talking to Sokka and Suki.

“Wait, wait, hold on, I never understood how you got inside either – I assumed you did it with the rest of the soldiers?”

“What? No, I – no? I was presumed _dead_ , if you recall.”

“Let me get this straight,” Suki interrupts, punching Sokka in the shoulder lightly when he snickers, “You were caught in an assassination attempt that exploded your whole ship, stowed away under an admiral you loathed for another day and a half without taking care of your injuries, and _swam in freezing cold water_ right after that just to catch Aang?”

Zuko squirms under her glare. “I told you, I’m not exactly proud of the things I’ve done.”

Sokka swears under his breath. “ _Buddy_. She doesn’t mean _that;_ you’ve already made up for your mistakes, and you’re cleaning up behind your ancestors – which you shouldn’t have to do, by the way – and you’re doing great. What Suki meant was that you were injured badly and still pushed through what could be a borderline painful environment without really stopping to take a moment for yourself.”

“Which is rather impressive to most,” Suki concludes. “And incredibly concerning. You’re lucky you have us to help you take care of yourself now.”

“Suki…”

She fixes him with a _look_ , and he relents. “Fine. But I don’t get why – _oh_. _Oh_.”

“I think you broke him,” Sokka whispers to Suki theatrically. Suki shoves him off the bed and he falls with a yelp. Zuko is caught between the heat rising in his cheeks and laughing at his friend’s plight.

“You brought this on yourself,” he finally decides on saying. Sokka swears at him in response, and hauls himself back onto the lavish mattress. He flops deliberately over them both and goes limp, ignoring Zuko’s squawk and Suki’s jab in the side until they’re all snickering in what is effectively a cuddle pile.

“You didn’t tell us the most important part, though – what did Pakku’s face look like when you told him you single-handedly found your way into one of the most secure and sacred places in the world?”

Zuko laughs.

* * *

Toph _loves_ sitting in on Zuko’s diplomatic meetings. They’re usually at least a little interesting, and he’s absent-minded _just_ enough to let slip a detail that sends the Earth Kingdom ambassadors reeling with alarm and confusion.

“We must work on strengthening Ba Sing Se’s defecnces if a fourteen-year-old girl could break through them so easily,” one of them says at an international summit. Toph stiffens; she hadn’t heard about how Azula managed to get through the great city’s walls, but Zuko has that information covered.

“The _fourteen-year-old girl_ is one of the Fire Nation’s most prodigious benders in a long time,” he replies coolly. “Princess Azula had always been a master strategist even during her early childhood. Her persuasion skills as well were to be admired. The plan only succeeded because she and her team assumed the identity of the Kyoshi Warriors they already expected to receive that day. Well,” he adds awkwardly, “and the fact that she convinced me to join her side.”

Toph wants to smack her forehead because seriously, dude, stop digging yourself into a hole – but the ambassador’s heartbeat skyrockets and she has to hold back a grin instead.

“You – you were already inside?”

“Hmm? Yeah, my Uncle and I had been living there for a couple of months by that point. We were supposed to celebrate the opening of his new tea shop,” he says wistfully, and Toph discreetly pats his forearm in comfort and as a reminder that they’re still in a room full of dignitaries.

Who were currently panicking upon learning that the Dragon of the West had actually managed to get past their walls at some point. Spirits, this was the best decision she’d made since joining Twinkletoes and the others.

“That reminds me – Suki, did you ever receive the financial aid I sent to compensate for the structural damages to your village?”

“Yeah,” she replies from her position as his guard, “You didn’t really damage much of the island – it was mostly just the rooftops of some houses, and parts of the town square. Maybe even a few roadside stalls at most. They’re surprised that they even received the compensation, but they won’t feed you to the Unagi if you decide to visit Kyoshi Island.”

Now, _several_ hearts pick up pace and very nearly match the rate Zuko had achieved in the early Western Air Temple days.

“What’s the Unagi?” she asks curiously.

“Um. I think it’s a giant sea serpent? I wasn’t really paying attention because we were trying to not get eaten at the time.”

“It’s a giant serpent, alright,” one of the other warriors says from across the room. “It has a habit of eating just about anything near it – the elephant koi, people, small boats, and so on. It’s mostly why Kyoshi Island was able to stay out of the war for so long – none of the fleets could get close enough to attack us.”

Toph grins. “Cool.”

Zuko chuckles beside her, and she punches him in the shoulder good-naturedly. He pokes her in the side for that and turns back to the ambassadors – who appear to be close to fainting at this point. She considers mentioning their state to Sparky but decides that she wants to witness the rest of this just to see the outcome.

“Right. We were going to talk about those villages where the soldiers are still stationed…”

The rest of the conversation is dull, mostly, and Toph mostly zones out until Zuko yet again mentions something from one of his travels pre-joining the gang.

“… be that as it may, the Fire Nation’s army isn’t the one terrorizing your people,” he says icily.

“Our soldiers remain in those villages as security forces,” someone pipes up indignantly. “The Fire Nation imposed several strict laws and curfews, and now–”

“I am well aware of what the Fire Nation has done,” Zuko interrupts. “I believe that is on _me_ to make up for those actions in any way I can. This is a major problem I witnessed firsthand when I traveled through the Earth Kingdom. Your soldiers aren’t protecting your people, they’re just plain bullies abusing their power over those who can’t stand up for themselves.”

Toph blinks a few times, not that it clears her vision or anything. No wonder he was so invested in this subject, even if it had nothing to do with him or the Fire Nation. Zuko had driven himself to the point of having a complete meltdown several times as he fought the old generals to remove the soldiers from various outposts and reassign them to different jobs based on their experience in the field. It had all culminated in an actual breakdown, and since then Uncle has taken up the position of his advisor until Zuko turns eighteen (at least).

Though it’s closer to ‘regent’ with the way he’s watching over his nephew, anyway. None of them really want to bring it up, and Zuko appreciates having someone to help him so he isn’t complaining either.

“But–”

“I met a young boy who had been taken from his mother because he stood up to a few soldiers laying about their village,” he recalls. “They said that because he’d ‘fought back’, he could join the army. He wasn’t even ten years old, Ambassador. Should I have let him be? Would you?”

“No, I–”

“Then I trust this matter will be taken care of with the urgency it deserves,” Zuko concludes, leaving no room for argument. “Right. I suppose it’s late enough to conclude today’s proceedings, then. I’ll be taking your leave,” he adds, bowing respectfully to them.

“Hold up, Sparky,” Toph calls, hopping down from the dais next to him. He barely jumps at the sudden action and silently walks down the length of the council room at a deliberately measured pace. The Earth Kingdom delegation sits dumbstruck behind them, though Toph can’t be too sure why. Zuko has dropped so many bombshells today that it could be literally any of them.

The door shuts softly behind them and Toph can sense his heartbeat properly now that she’s not on carpeted floors (the dais was metal, but the large carpet lining the middle muffled her senses a bit). It’s slightly too fast, which she’d somehow missed during the meeting, and she tugs at his sleeve gently.

“Are you alright?”

He exhales. “Yeah. It’s just… that’s the old war room. The staff were clearing the regular council room, as you know, so I had to use it instead. I don’t really have any good memories associated with those chambers.”

She translates this to mean ‘my memories of the place are borderline traumatic’ because Zuko has a habit of severely underestimating how bad a situation can be, and tugs at his sleeve again. He stays silent for a little longer as they walk, but when his pace slows she slows with him.

“Toph?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to redecorate those chambers at some point?”

Her grin, she’ll be told later, is absolutely feral and even more delighted for it.

“Sparky,” she breathes, “you don’t even need to _ask_.”

* * *

Some five months into Fire Lord Zuko’s reign, when the immediacy of ending a war and trying to make up for the Fire Nation’s past mistakes is slowly fading into something more stable, Surya realises exactly what he’s stepped into when he decided to become the official advisor to his monarch. At that point, he looks up at the sun and prays to his namesake that he doesn’t go crazy before he turns forty. Which, unfortunately, is within the next decade.

It doesn’t help that the Fire Lord is a teenager. Surya feels practically ancient next to him, especially when he has to hunt him down for a meeting that he’s forgotten in favour of feeding the turtleducks, petting one of the few cats that still roam the palace, or generally being harassed by his friends. He hates having to drag away the boy from something so peaceful and innocent into the pincers of mind-numbing politics, but it must be done anyway.

Things are never dull around him, though, that much is clear.

“The subject of this meeting is to discuss the decommissioning of several of our prisons, most of which were created to hold war prisoners, including the Boiling Rock. If the prison cannot be decommissioned, the objective is to change the policies–”

“Fire Lord Zuko, you cannot decommission all the prisons,” General… somebody, interrupts. Surya has never been great with faces, but this person seems new to the council.

(Oh, right, some of the council members had been replaced after one too many attempts on the Fire Lord’s life had been traced back to them. Spirits, these grown men were really trying to kill a _kid_. Ruler of the nation he may be.)

The teenager raises a brow. “Why not? Certainly the funding for those prisons could go elsewhere if we cut down their numbers. We could invest in plans to reduce domestic crime instead of waste so many resources pointlessly.”

“The prisons will keep the people in line,” the general says, and Surya winces. Oh, that is a _bad_ argument to take in – well, in general; but especially so with _this_ Fire Lord.

The torchlight flares slightly, and Surya can hear his employer breathe slowly, deliberately, before responding.

“General Kiran,” he grits out, “I have long since established that the Fire Nation will no longer let her people live in fear. I hope I needn’t say more on the subject; my standing must be obvious by now.”

“There won’t be any other way to keep crime off the streets,” the councilman protests.

“Needless cruelty won’t solve anything.”

“Fire Lord, it’s only a few years behind bars. It’s hardly unjustified.”

Oh, _no_.

“Not unjustified, hm? The same way _this_ was justified?” Surya doesn’t dare look at the young monarch, but he’s pretty sure he just gestured to his scar. The story of how he got it is more or less common knowledge, but the reasons for such a punishment had been more shadowed than the way he received it.

“Fire Lord, I–”

“No, _do_ go on about justified punishments,” he all but snarls, and Surya shivers slightly at the tone. “The Boiling Rock may be the most secure prison in the world, my escape from it exempted–”

_What?_

“– but I’ve seen the way the prisoners are treated there. I’ve heard firsthand accounts of how they were treated in other prisons too. Accounts, I may add, which were both from our citizens and prisoners of war. Do you know what they’re _actually_ like, those prisons you defend? The guards would invent rules and punish those infractions just for some sick power trip. They’d bring out fire lashes for things like not looking at the guards they pass or making the line a little too crooked for their whimsical liking. And if you’re a firebender? You get thrown into a cooler, no questions asked.”

“A cooler, sir?” Surya asks softly, mildly horrified. He’s sure that isn’t even the worst of it, and he absolutely _hates_ the look of furious devastation on the Fire Lord’s face (he’ll call the little earthbender and the boy’s uncle to help later), but he can’t quell his curiosity. The glint in the Fire Lord’s eye softens slightly when he shifts his gaze to his advisor, and though he rationally knows that his ruler isn’t angry at _him_ , it’s a little gratifying to see the proof before him.

“It’s a small metal cell of sorts,” he explains. “Heavily insulated and constructed specifically to trap the chill. It practically _leeches_ the heat from any source inside it. It’s torture for most firebenders,” he adds. “You would know of the effects of elemental deprivation?”

He nods.

“This isn’t so much prolonged as intense and fast. The shock hurts more than the actual cold, like diving headfirst into icy waters without preparing for the chill first. It can be deadly to firebenders who haven’t learned to regulate their temperature yet, or incredibly painful to those who _have_.”

Surya swallows. “Oh.”

“It’s inhumane,” Lord Zuko agrees. “Which is why I’d rather it didn’t _exist_.”

“We’d need to make sure the strongest benders inside for actual crimes don’t try to escape,” General Kiran tries weakly. Even _he_ looks a little pasty, to Surya’s satisfaction. He’ll be watching the man now, and he’ll alert the guards to do the same.

“So chi-block them,” Fire Lord Zuko says with a shrug. “We’ll figure out the details in the meeting, _as I’d planned to do_.”

Well. That’s news to him. The Water Tribe boy (the master strategist, part of him cries, because _he_ couldn't be older than sixteen) must have helped keep him from leaping right into this idea without thinking ahead.

There are a lot of parts of Lord Zuko’s story that concern him, such as the bit about swimming in icy water and the amount of detail that went into describing the coolers, and he files away that information for later to mull over and let the boy’s actual guardians and family to help him with. Right now, he sits back and dips his brush into the pot of ink beside him.

It’s going to be a long term of employment, and the Fire Lord can be terrifying when he wants to be, but Surya thinks he can work with someone who wants the best for his people. And it’s certainly _very_ interesting to see such antics as the Avatar practically barreling into the Fire Lord at full speed, before being chased around by said monarch until they’re nearly late to their next meeting. He meets Ming’s eyes and returns her grin, knowing that they’re thinking the same thing.

This is what they get for appointing children to fix the problems caused by adults who should know better, and watching the Fire Lord tackle the twelve-year-old monk to the floor, their laughter echoing through the corridors (the first time in nearly a decade, he’ll be told later), he can’t help but think that the world is in the right hands.

**Author's Note:**

> In which Surya from one of my other fics makes an appearance as a responsible adult figure who (for once) isn't out for the Fire Lord!
> 
> Minor detail here: I have a headcanon that Surya is the Sun Spirit to the Fire Nation, and Agni is the spirit of Fire. It's a direct reference to Hindu religion and mythology, where Surya is the god of the sun and Agni is the god of fire. I've seen a lot of people reference Agni as the Sun Spirit, but thought this fit the theme better as a direct parallel to Tui and La (Fire/Sun vs. Ocean/Moon). Also minor and unrelated details - as an extension of this headcanon-slash-parallel, Vayu and Bhoomi are spirits of Air and Earth respectively.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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